STF Labs

Urban GPT

UrbanGPT is an AI-powered urban planning assistant built within the Grasshopper Rhinoceros framework. Currently, it precisely manages plot data—automating ID manipulation and calculating key metrics like area, GFA, FAR, and height. Its design is fully compatible with industry standards, ensuring real-time, parametric design updates. In the future, UrbanGPT will extend its capabilities by integrating environmental analysis and sustainability metrics, providing a holistic platform for smart, data-informed urban design.

Disha Varshney

Designer

Coding Architecture

AI-powered tools are making parametric architecture more intuitive and accessible than ever. With ChatGPT generating code for p5.js, architects can effortlessly script complex geometries, adjusting parameters like height, twist, and scaling in real time. This interactive workflow allows for rapid iterations, where simple code modifications lead to instant architectural transformations.

Designing with AI and VR

AI and VR are transforming architectural design by enabling real-time creation and visualization. Designers can sketch freely in a virtual space, instantly seeing their ideas take shape with accurate scale and depth. This seamless interaction allows for immediate adjustments, fostering a more intuitive and immersive creative process. By merging artificial intelligence with spatial computing, architects can explore structures dynamically, refining forms and materials with greater efficiency.

Generative AI: Real Time

Developing an in-house tool powered by NVIDIA GPUs and Microsoft Azure cloud computing enables real-time generative AI rendering, revolutionizing the design workflow. By leveraging NVIDIA’s high-performance GPUs for accelerated computation and Azure’s scalable cloud infrastructure, this system can generate complex architectural visualizations instantly. AI-driven models can produce high-fidelity textures, lighting simulations, and dynamic scene adjustments in real time, allowing designers to iterate seamlessly. This fusion of local GPU power and cloud-based AI processing ensures unparalleled speed, flexibility, and efficiency, pushing the boundaries of real-time rendering for architectural visualization, gaming, and digital twin applications.

Immersive Urban Design

By combining AI, VR, and 3D-printed models, designers can rapidly explore how massing changes influence the urban environment in real time. 3D-printed massing models allow for hands-on manipulation, enabling teams to physically rearrange structures and instantly see the impact through AI-powered real-time rendering. With VR integration, stakeholders can immerse themselves in the evolving cityscape, analyzing spatial relationships, lighting conditions, and environmental effects dynamically. This approach fosters a collaborative and interactive workflow, where urban planners, architects, and policymakers can experiment, iterate, and refine city designs with unparalleled speed and accuracy.

From AI to Reality

At the RIBA Exhibition for the Gulf Region, we demonstrated the cutting edge of AI-driven design by presenting a seamless workflow from AI-generated images to 3D models and finally to 3D-printed architectural prototypes. Our exhibit focused on floating villa typologies, illustrating how advancements in generative AI can transform simple text prompts into fully realized spatial concepts. These AI-generated designs were refined into detailed 3D models, optimized for fabrication, and then 3D-printed to bring digital visions into physical reality. This exhibition highlighted the current state of technology, showcasing the potential of AI, computational design, and digital fabrication to revolutionize architectural workflows.